A Quantitative Analysis of Pragmatic Language in Adults with High-Functioning Autism
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Date
2014-05
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Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have impaired social communication, particularly pragmatic language (DSM-V; APA, 2013). We aimed to identify differences in pragmatic language in conversations between typically developed (TD) individuals and high-functioning adults with autism (HFA). HFA (n = 8) and TD (n = 8) individuals participated in guided discussions that were recorded, transcribed, and specifically analyzed for off-topic responses, disrupted turn-taking events, use of discourse markers, and frequency of mental state references. We also examined the social connectedness of the individuals; half of the participants had previous experiences with one another, and half of the participants were strangers. The TD group was less often off-topic than the HFA group. While there was no difference in the type of disrupted turn-taking events, the groups differed in how these events functioned, with socially connected individuals disrupting more often in non-supportive ways. Social connectedness was also significant for turn winner, suggesting that speakers who disrupt win the turn more often in socially connected groups than they do in conversations between socially unconnected people. Discourse markers, words that maintain grounding and listener understanding, were analyzed, specifically for the use of "like" and "you know". The TD group used "like" more than the HFA group, and there was no difference for "you know" between the groups. Lastly, the TD group used more mental state words than the HFA group. These results suggest that conversations between HFA individuals differ from TD individuals because of these subtle differences in pragmatic language usage. These patterns potentially have utility in developing diagnostic tests, especially in parsing strengths and weaknesses of individuals with HFA.
Description
2014 Denman Undergraduate Research Forum, Honorable Mention in Psychology
Keywords
Pragmatic language, High-functioning autism, Discourse markers, Turn-taking, Conversation